DENVER -- News that Colorado won't be in the first wave of presidential candidate John Kerry's ad blitz this fall doesn't mean the state has fallen off the Democrats' radar screen -- far from it, according to the campaign's state director.

"Colorado's very much in play," Sue Casey, head of the state campaign, said Thursday. "It has always been in the 19 or 20 states considered in play since May/June and it's always been in the second tier of those states."

Political experts said that's different from calling Colorado a battleground state, which the Kerry campaign did in early June. The campaign announced Colorado would be among the places targeted by $25 million in television ads.

Kerry, who stresses he was born at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, has visited the state four times. He plans to return soon, and running mate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, also plan trips, Casey said.

Colorado, though, isn't one of the 14 states where Kerry plans to immediately start airing ads. The campaign has reserved millions of dollars worth of advertising time in the state and five others, but those ads aren't scheduled to run until October at the earliest.

"If you want to know whether a presidential election is being contested, turn on your TV and see if a large number of ads are being played for both candidates. If that is the case, that is very telling," said Bob Loevy, political science professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

The converse is also telling, said GOP political consultant Katy Atkinson of Denver.

"If they're not putting dollars in here, then we're not targeted," she said.

Atkinson was among the skeptics when the Kerry campaign called Colorado a battleground in June. Republicans are the state's dominant party, with a big lead in voter registration and control of the governor's office, Legislature and congressional delegation.

But President Bush isn't taking anything for granted, campaign spokesman Danny Diaz insisted.

"In Colorado, we're not going to take our foot off the gas," Diaz said.

Bush scheduled a rally with Vice President Dick Cheney in Jefferson County Tuesday, according to the campaign. Bush's last visit to Colorado was in June, when he spoke at the Air Force Academy graduation.

Diaz attributed Kerry's decision not to target Colorado in the initial ad blitz to the Bush campaign's hard work.

"It shows what can happen when you have a record of accomplishment you can speak to," he added.

Casey said Bush's record is one of the reasons the Kerry campaign considers Colorado fertile ground. She said Coloradans are responding to the Massachusetts senator's stances on jobs, health and education.

That's also why the campaign is devoting the resources it is to the state, Casey added. Fifty-seven organizers have been hired in the last two weeks and more than 13,000 volunteers have signed up, she said.

Also going for Kerry are the state's competitive U.S. Senate and congressional races, Casey said.

"When you have an open Senate seat and the Democratic Party candidate has already won statewide, suddenly the dimensions change slightly," she said.

Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar faces Republican Pete Coors, on leave as chief executive of the Coors Brewing Co. his family founded, in the race to succeed retiring GOP incumbent Ben Nighthorse Campbell.

"If we were slowing down, you wouldn't see us revving up," Casey said.